Bhajanpura case: It was murder not suicide, claims family

The relatives of an e-rickshaw driver, who was found dead along with his wife and three children in northeast Delhi's Bhajanpura on Wednesday, suspect it is a case of murder and not suicide.

The decomposed bodies of Shambhu Chaudhary (43), his wife Sunita (37) and his children Shivam (17), Sachin (14) and Komal (12) were found inside their rented house in the morning, police said.

The e-rickshaw driver, who hailed from Bihar's Supaul district, had move into the house five to six months ago.

"I got the information regarding the bodies from locals. I went inside the flat along with a forensic team. There was no issue in the family. It cannot be suicide. It is a murder case," Shambhu's cousin Dinanath Chaudhary said.

He claimed that he had gone to the children's school and "found out that they had last attended classes on February 3".

Shambhu's brother Roshan Chaudhary said that he was in Bihar and returned to Delhi on Wednesday morning.

"I went to Bihar and returned to Delhi today. I spoke to Shambhu around 10 to 12 days ago. He used to drive an e-rickshaw and the relation between him and his wife was good. He had three children who used to study in a government school in Yamuna Vihar," the 20-year-old said.

Police were informed at 11.16 am by Shambhu's neighbours about foul smell emanating from the house. Police personnel broke open the door of the house and found the five decomposed bodies.

The bodies have been sent to the GTB Hospital for postmortem.

Srikant Sharma, Shambhu's neighbour, said a foul smell was emanating from the house, but when he tried to enter, he found the main gate locked from the outside.

"The foul smell was coming from the house. Some people thought that the smell was coming from the sewer but I was sure that something was wrong. I wanted to go inside but the gate was locked," he said.

When police reached, they broke open the door and found the bodies, Sharma said.